Just as with baseball, spring is the time for businesses to re-evaluate returning talent, determine which rookies may require some more seasoning and to bring on board a veteran bench coach who will share valuable lessons with the team.

As the season begins with an economy that is trying to circle the bases without getting caught in a run-down, The Whitmore Group has added the consulting services of a valuable veteran to its roster.

Harry Pontone is a long-serving executive from the funeral services industry. In our dugout, he, will provide us with more than 60 years of business and management expertise to support our insurance underwriting and management programs for companies in the New York area and nationwide.

A licensed funeral director who graduated from the New York School of Embalming, Harry will share with us his career stats as a five-tool player in the areas of marketing, sales and management. He will help The Whitmore Group expand its casualty underwriting for funeral homes, other funeral-related businesses and businesses in other industries.

Harry started his career by working for his father, who founded the South Brooklyn Casket Company during 1931. Along with his brothers, Harry operated and expanded the business to include additional services such as personalization, merchandising and business planning. He dedicated his entire career to providing services in the death care industry with compassion.

Harry is the greatest salesman I ever met. He’s been a mentor to me and, for many years as one of our earliest clients, he has believed in the insurance program we developed for the funeral industry. His marketing and client service expertise, whether for the funeral business or for any line of business, along with his commitment to ensure that people’s wishes and needs are understood and respected, have been a tremendous asset to us since we first met. His experiences will be even more valuable to us now as we continue to improve our underwriting programs and services for all business sectors locally and across the country.

It is no secret that I attribute my success in business to all that I learned as an athlete in high school and college athletics. I also engage in business with many others who have played sports at various levels. While Harry did not get his game from the sports field, he did me one better, or, should I say, at least two sewers better. He played ball the hard way – figuring out how to get out of the house with his mother’s broom handle so he and his buddies could play stickball in the streets of Brooklyn.

Welcome to your new team, Harry!

JCM

Take it from someone who competed on the sports field. Trash talk can be brutal. It can be intimidating. It can push you off your game, if you let it get into your head.

We’ve seen more than enough of it. We see it in football, basketball, hockey and countless other games and competitions from the pros down to the level played by our children. But if you have confidence in your abilities, trash talk will not affect your game. It even can become a source of on-field entertainment and provide a little levity to remove some of the pressure.

The same scenario is found in business. Success is achieved by conducting pre-game research, developing a game plan and remaining focused on the desired outcome. Rather than discrediting the competition or speaking too much about personal abilities, concentration needs to be placed on the needs of clients and anticipating outside influences. The objective is to accomplish the desired results.

The Whitmore Group team doesn’t do any talking until we listen to and understand the needs of our clients. We do not become concerned when our competition claims it can deliver equal or better counsel, products or services. We already know that we provide our clients with the best talent to help them achieve their desired objectives. We prove this to them every day, and at the end of every day, we always leave the field together as champions.

JCM

Meet the Newest Member of the Whitmore Team

Coming from the sports world, I like to work with people who have experienced similar competition and have converted their drive for success into wins. Athletes understand the ingredients of success — extensive training and preparation, skill development, teamwork or individual commitment, and executing the game plan on the field. They also understand what it takes to rebound from tough losses.

At The Whitmore Group, our team recently added Louis D’Agostino to the lineup. A graduate of Lawrence High School on Long Island, where he was a star running back and linebacker, Louis received the 1990 Thorp Award for most outstanding Nassau County high school football player. Louis also enjoyed a successful college career at Hofstra University and then at the University of Rhode Island, where he received three team MVP awards and first-team All-Conference and All-American honors. He also received the Laboufe Award for 1995 Male Athlete of the Year.

Though undrafted after college, Louis relied on his work ethic and turned pro with the New York Jets. He then played with the New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the XFL and the Florida Bobcats of the Arena Football League.

After finishing his on-field career, Louis joined a leading New York City insurance firm. Then, after honing his skills in the field, he created Iron Cove Partners, an agency dedicated to servicing the unique insurance requirements of the financial services and securities trading industry. He delivers a broad variety of risk management and insurance related products for business and high net worth individuals.

Now, Louis has brought his competitive business acumen to us. Iron Cove has become a division of The Whitmore Group and Louis is a senior vice president and a member of our management committee. He also will continue to oversee Iron Cove Partners as its managing principal.

Besides Louis, we have other Team Whitmore players with competitive sports backgrounds. But sports isn’t a pre-requisite for success here. Some of our employees never have competed on the field, but they have faced various challenges from childhood to today in the form of science competitions, dance recitals, overcoming serious personal situations and finding solutions that support our clients.

The bottom line is that all our employees know what it takes to compete. By choosing our experience, skill sets and preparation, our clients join a winning team.

JCM

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This past December, the women’s basketball team at UConn set an NCAA record. The team won its 90th consecutive game, passing the previous NCAA record set by Coach John Wooden’s UCLA men’s basketball team during the 1970s.

While many in the sports world celebrated, others, unfortunately, downplayed this fabulous story and achievement for a variety of reasons – citing significantly different levels of competition, a gap of 30+ years that resulted in different playing conditions and the opinion that the men’s record was a more difficult hill to climb. None of this, however, should have come into play to dampen the success achieved by UConn’s women athletes. Their record may never be broken and their outstanding success needs to be celebrated.

As with sports, achievements in business should never be compared and measured against the success of others from yesterday or 30 years ago. Accomplishments never will be exactly the same simply because the players, obstacles and available resources never will match perfectly.

Instead, all levels of success should be acknowledged and celebrated by an organization. Management’s role is to infuse encouragement for a team or an individual, help them seek new levels of success and lead the celebrations when goals are achieved.

At The Whitmore Group, each team and individual achievement is embraced company-wide. The knowledge gained from the battle benefits all our employees. All success stimulates our competitive spirit, helping each of us reach new heights to serve our clients.

JCM

I’m excited about a new section added to website this week. We were able to piece together an historical archive of all High School Boys Lacrosse All-Americans since 1971 and it is available at the link at the top of this page.

I was surprised when I found out that this complete list wasn’t easily available anywhere else on the web. I felt that it was important to have these records preserved for all of the athletes who worked so hard over the years to earn this honor (and who were are not as fortunate as I am to have their own website.)

Working with Charles Bindert and his team at Spontaneous Development, we were able to compile the list and build the interface that lets you search by name, and group the athletes by year, by state and by school. Selecting by school lets you see all of the All-Americans from all years for that school.

Enjoy searching through the new section and going down memory lane as I did. Let me know what you think.

JCM

P.S. By the way, I’m sure there are some omissions or misspellings that came from the various sources we found, so feel free to contact us if you know of any corrections that are needed.

Do you remember the card game “Concentration” from your childhood, or the television version of the same game that first appeared during 1958?

The children’s game matches cards. All cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up during each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards that lead to solving a puzzle that mixes letters with symbols. The TV adaptation featured a board consisting of three-sided motorized boxes. Numbers appeared on the first of the three sides, prizes for matching and winning were on the second, and the puzzle clues appeared on the third.

Life seemed so simple when we played our childhood games or watched TV contestants solve puzzles. Sometimes we weren’t totally aware that distractions, even of the smallest kind, could change the course of the game, or, for those on TV, that valuable prizes were replaced with the dreaded “parting gifts.”

But distractions do have the potential to alter our ability to remain focused during a game, on a school or business project, during an important conversation, or even while driving. Distractions can create roadblocks to success — if we let them.

Since everything I have learned about life and to achieve success in business has come from playing competitive sports, I offer Tiger Woods as an example of a person who once had exceptional concentration but now continues to suffer from the burden of various distractions.

Since he was a young boy, Tiger’s success was honed from constant analysis of his game that he perfected with rigorous practice. When on the golf course, Tiger blocked out everything that did not pertain to golf. He always remained in the moment, whether driving the ball or sinking a long putt that no one else could ever place in the cup. His game plan and focus led to countless championships, huge financial prizes, worldwide recognition and admiration, and even more rewards as a corporate and brand spokesman.

That all came to a screeching halt the day his car hit the tree. Quickly bogged down in a sand trap that seemed to be composed of quicksand, Tiger’s professional game and image suffered right along with his personal life. Now, more than a year later, with personal issues still a huge part of each day, Tiger has not been able to regain his mastery in the game he once dominated for so many years. Whether or not he has found the proper balance in his personal and family life is an issue that only he can address.

No matter who we are or what we do for a living, distractions always will pop up to grab us and push us off course. A family issue, a souring relationship, financial problems, loosing a client, or even a health matter can hit us on any day at any time. The best response, as many people have shown, is to turn these distractions into positive actions.

By remaining focused on the personal and professional goals that truly matter, each of us can find ways to address distractions and become a returning champion in business and life. A solid strategy will help solve the puzzle. The prizes will be those we value and not just parting gifts.

JCM

During the surprising and exciting season-ending surge by the San Francisco Giants that created a fun ride for the team’s fans through the playoffs and the World Series, I started to think about who should be considered the historical face of the franchise.

For fans over 80, along with many baseball historians, the nod easily could go to Manager John McGraw, pitcher Christy Mathewson, or outfielder and slugger Mel Ott. They helped the Giants dominate the New York baseball scene for decades until they pushed the Yankees out as tenants at the old Polo Grounds. The acquisition of Babe Ruth may also have had something to do with the rise of the Yankee dynasty and the demise of the Giants in New York.

For those of us slightly younger but still over 50, I have found that Willie Mays mostly is considered to be Mr. Giant. One of the best players of his generation (if not the best), Mays is classified as one of the first “five-tool” players. He was able to hit for average, hit with power, run with speed, field his position and throw out runners for most of his career. He was the complete package in Giants cream, black and orange.

Fans under 50, I suspect, might tap Barry Bonds.

Certainly, many fans, especially Giants fans, were crazed about his monster home runs and the breaking of season and career home run records. He dominated the game for more than 10 seasons. Proof of this occurred when a manager intentionally walked Bonds with the bases loaded to force in a run rather than pitch to him and face his damage potential.

But, what was the cost of his success?

Allegations of steroids have tainted him and his career numbers. Ever since he was first marked with the steroid “S”, everything that has been written or reported about him and his statistics have referenced drug enhancement.

While the wild ride that many took with him as he clubbed those record breaking homers may have been enjoyable, it also was a record run that quickly became tarnished along the way. True baseball fans did not want Bonds to break Hank Aaron’s record, and many still question if the career home run record, or any baseball record, really has been broken during the steroid era.

I have always said that the lessons I learned in sports have been the foundation of my business success. Whether in sports, business, or anything else in life, each of us is given the opportunity to choose the path to our desired destination. The one that will be most rewarding personally is the same one that will garner the respect of family, peers and customers. The chosen path may contain many rules on road signs and many road blocks, but the open road also provides many opportunities for hard work that will refine raw talent.

In the long-term, shortcuts never are successful. To reach the Hall of Fame in sports or business, the best philosophy is to build a solid foundation, play by the rules, remain on the honest path to success and always play hard to win.

So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that my selection for the “face” of the Giants franchise, at least for the San Francisco version, is and always will be the Say Hey Kid.

JCM

A critical component of success for any business sector, organization, team, or individual is the opportunity to have access to those who can provide sound advice and guidance. All of us can benefit professionally and personally from the experiences and knowledge of others who have followed the same path.

Teaching, instructing and counseling probably are most visible in sports. Coaches instruct wide-eyed rookies during their initial exposure to the big leagues and established players often discuss training, strategy and codes of conduct with younger players. It is not uncommon to see baseball’s relief pitchers gathered around Mariano Rivera as he explains how to consistently and successfully throw a cutter to batters, or to find skaters listening intently to Wayne Gretsky as he emphasizes proper positioning for lighting the red lamp.

The same mentoring process occurs daily at the lower professional levels and throughout the various levels of amateur and school athletics. For me, following a long absence from lacrosse after a successful high school and college playing career on Long Island, I am now considered an elder statesmen and, frankly, I really enjoy my new role as an advocate for today’s amateur lacrosse players. I am able to contribute to their development, help increase the overall level of competition and support opportunities that impact the popularity of the game.

A unique opportunity for me developed this past summer. I was asked to become involved with the German team at the World Lacrosse Championships held in Great Britain. With my sports roots deeply embedded in the game and my paternal history traced to Germany, how could I not become involved in this opportunity to help Germany advance the game that I enjoyed for so many years?

Lacrosse in Germany still is in its infancy, and this year’s team at the world championships, which consisted of players aged 19 to 34, faced formidable competition from some of the best teams in the world. Yet, with the help of several U.S. coaches (a number of whom share my Long Island lacrosse pedigree) and my ability to provide financial assistance, the German team finished fifth among more than 20 teams.

These German players long will remember the coaching, mentoring and financial support that they received and that culminated in their joy of accomplishment. They will want the players who follow them to not only experience their level of success, but they will want them to continue to strive for the top prize. When able, they, too, will find ways to support the next generation of German lacrosse players. Their contributions will help grow the game in their country and help raise the level of competition worldwide.

Over the years, I have adapted many of the lessons I learned as an athlete for my personal business management plan. This includes seeking the guidance of others who have helped me establish and expand my business (Whitmore Group) along with supporting the young men and women who have entered the insurance field to work with me.

My mentors continue to guide me as I explore and develop new business opportunities. In turn, I encourage all within our organization to support professional development and company growth by providing ideas, offering suggestions and sharing experiences. By doing so, we regularly refine our skills, we continue to improve our relationships with clients and we are able to celebrate our achievements and successes as a team.

Just as with the German lacrosse players, or any athletes, proper mentoring and coaching in business raises the bar of competition and increases the benefits for all who choose to compete. The best trained talent always will welcome new challenges, will overcome obstacles and will remain focused on the big prize. We do this every day at Whitmore Group.

JCM

During the last couple of months, the sports world lost two icons.

John Wooden left us a couple of months ago, and, in my previous post, you can read my thoughts about this fabulous gentleman and the impact he had on life rather than just on sports.

Recently, we lost New York Yankees owner George M. Steinbrenner III. At times, many times, he was bombastic, hotheaded and fired people faster than a 100 mph fastball. But, we need to take a look at “The Boss” and his business talents from another perspective.

Steinbrenner was one of the most successful business leaders of the last 30 years. He demanded the world from his employees, but he never gave less than the universe back to them and his customers. His commitment to success allowed him to raise a once proud organization from the rubble of CBS ownership and turn a $10 million investment into the most famous and possibly the most valued sports franchise in the world. With the creation of the YES Network and related businesses, the New York Yankees now are valued at more than $1 billion.

During his years of ownership, Steinbrenner cleverly mixed and re-mixed the various ingredients for business success to create one of the most powerful family-owned businesses in the world. He surrounded himself with the best talent from star players to secretaries. He stressed winning and championships, and he only wanted to hear about recent wins and championships, or plans for future ones, at the annual corporate review. He constantly reinvested in the Yankees product, determined always to give advertisers and fans, his key customers, the best team and ballpark experience that money and talent could deliver.

Steinbrenner did this in a very vocal and visible way. With little fanfare, though, he realized that the New York Yankees, as with any successful business, had a major league responsibility to share its achievements with people who required a helping hand. Since his passing, a number of previously unknown stories have emerged about Steinbrenner’s ongoing quiet support for people affected with medical or other personal issues. The Yankees Foundation also continued to grow under his ownership, providing assistance to sick children, to support public education and to bring inner city youth to ballgames.

At Whitmore Group, for more than 20 years we have followed a business and social responsibility road that is similar to the one blazed by George Steinbrenner.

Each year, we continue to place the best possible team on the field. We always reinvest in our business operations and training, and we strive to satisfy every need of our customers. We also provide considerable support to our community, including the student athletes at Hofstra University and to help the young people in the programs administered by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island.

Just like George, our goal is to win every day.

Earlier this month, we lost a legendary sports figure. John Wooden was 99 years old.

Wooden’s influence on collegiate and professional basketball, including his success at UCLA, are achievements that we recall immediately when we hear his name. He coached men’s basketball at the school for more than 25 years and, remarkably, he led the Bruins to 10 NCAA national championships. He also is enshrined in the National Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach.

During Wooden’s long life, however, it was most important to him that he lived a good life, one that he dedicated to inspiring others. So many people, even those of us who never met him, have been influenced by his dedication to achievement through hard work, his faith and his love of family.

As a young sports fan and during my lacrosse days, I always admired Wooden’s incredible sports success. But now, as a businessman and family man who is more conscious today than ever before about the importance of hard work to be successful, about having faith in my ability to carry me through good and difficult times, and the importance of having the support of loved ones, I realize that there was so much more about John Wooden that people need to remember.

Wooden’s passing gave me an opportunity to revisit his life and teachings. He never considered himself a coach. He thought of himself as a teacher. While his players were practicing their moves, jump shots and tosses from the foul line, he always imparted a thought, some encouragement and words of inspiration that go way beyond any success on the basketball court.

I’ve listed a few of his most memorable quotes here and I try to focus on one phrase of Wooden wisdom each day. His words help me improve my relationships with employees and clients, more deeply appreciate my family ties and sometimes they even help my golf game. Maybe they can inspire you.

Character

• Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
• Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
• It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
• Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.
• Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character.

Focus

• Do not let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.
• If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.

Sports

• Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should accomplish with your ability.
• The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

Vision

• If you go as far as you can see, you will then see enough to go even farther.
• Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Commitment

• Make each day your masterpiece.
• Never mistake activity for achievement.
• It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.